No “horsesh**”: Dumping Verizon for T‑Mobile would cost me $150

T-Mobile US yesterday made an offer that is seemingly too good to refuse. AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint customers can jump to the underdog "Un-carrier" and get a lower monthly bill, a phone trade-in credit of up to $300, and T-Mobile will pay off their early termination fees (ETF). T-Mobile CEO John Legere celebrated the offer by calling his competitors' offerings "horseshit."

But like anything, it's not a slam dunk for everyone. If I were to switch from Verizon Wireless to T-Mobile, for example, I'd end up paying T-Mobile $150 more than I would pay Verizon over the next two years. Here's why.

Un-carrier marketing, real carrier restrictions

It comes down largely to the fact that, as we reported yesterday, T-Mobile's promise to pay off early termination fees is contingent on customers trading in their old phones and purchasing new ones from T-Mobile. While you can still bring your own phone to T-Mobile if it's unlocked and compatible with the network, if you do, T-Mobile won't pay off your ETF.

Further Reading

T-Mobile will pay early termination fees for AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon customers.

I have an iPhone 5S with 64GB of storage that I bought for $400 which (sadly enough) is the subsidized price that required me to enter a new two-year contract with Verizon Wireless. I pay Verizon $75 a month (plus $6 in taxes and fees, but I'm setting that aside to make the comparison with T-Mobile an apples-to-apples one). That gets me 250 texts, 450 minutes, and 6GB of data. The amount I actually use is much less, so it's plenty. I barely talk on my cell phone, and I've only gone over 250 texts once in nearly 10 years (due to excessive texting caused by the Red Sox romping through the World Series).

To qualify for T-Mobile's new program, I have to trade that device in. The T-Mobile website estimates that turning in my iPhone would provide $300 in credits.

In addition to that, T-Mobile would reimburse the early termination fee I'd have to pay to break my contract with Verizon. That fee is $350 minus $10 for each full month of the contract I've completed. The fee for me would be $320, but in this scenario it doesn't matter because T-Mobile will cover the charge.

Now, I need to purchase a new iPhone 5S with 64GB of storage from T-Mobile since I was required to trade in my Verizon one to get the incentives. The T-Mobile iPhone 5S will cost me $800 plus $10 for a SIM starter kit. Instead of paying that up front, T-Mobile assumes I will pay $200 now and $25 per month over the next 24 months to cover the other $600.

At this point, I am effectively paying T-Mobile $210 up front and receiving a $300 credit, so I'll actually pay nothing and have $90 in credits toward my monthly bills. Now I have to choose a monthly plan.

The cheapest option is $50 per month for "unlimited talk, text, and Web." While unlimited talk and text sounds cool, I don't talk or text enough to make that a selling point. Unlimited Web sounds great, but in reality T-Mobile throttles your speed after you pass 500MB each month.

I don't want slower service, so I would go with one of the more expensive plans. It's $60 per month for a plan that throttles speed after 2.5GB and $70 per month for one that is truly unlimited. My usage may go up over time, but as of now, I never go over 2.5GB, so I'll select the $60 per month plan.

That, in addition to the $25 I'm paying for the device each month, gives me an $85 monthly bill (plus taxes and fees). That means I'm paying T-Mobile $10 a month extra for two years, and if I left early, I would have to pay off the balance owed toward the $800 iPhone.

Over two years, the extra $10 a month is $240. I have a credit of $90, so I'm going to pay T-Mobile $150 more than I would pay Verizon over the same amount of time. The only way to save money would be to get a different, less expensive phone or accept slower speeds after 500MB each month.

It would actually be cheaper for me to pay the Verizon early termination fee myself and bring my phone to T-Mobile. The Verizon iPhone 5S is unlocked out of the box, and customer reports suggest I could use it on T-Mobile's network. Assuming that's the case, I'd pay a breakup fee of $320 to Verizon and pay T-Mobile $60 a month, $15 less than what I'm spending today. It would take a little more than 21 months to break even.

I would make out better on T-Mobile's ETF-reimbursement offer if I was satisfied with a 16GB phone. Trading in a 16GB iPhone 5S would give me a $295 credit instead of $300. A new 16GB iPhone 5S from T-Mobile costs $600, paid off with no money down and $25 a month for two years. If I did that, I'd save $55 over two years by switching to T-Mobile, about $2.30 per month.

Further Reading

This was all hypothetical—I'm not going to switch. Verizon has its annoyances, but the cellular coverage has always been spectacular for me. I wouldn't risk going to a different carrier unless I got real savings and was certain the service would be nearly as good.

None of this answers the question of whether you would benefit from switching to T-Mobile. For one thing, my monthly bill may be lower than those of other Verizon customers because I'm holding on to an ancient plan from before the iPhone and Android even existed. My 6GB of data is better than normal too. I used to get just 2GB, but Verizon helpfully tripled my monthly allotment after iTunes Match malfunctioned and ate up a ton of my cellular data when it wasn't supposed to.

Other Verizon customers have it worse. Business Insider reporter Steve Kovach writes that he pays Verizon $110 per month for 2GB of data and unlimited calling and texting. He's switching to T-Mobile.

Still, my own situation probably isn't that unique. Ars Senior Reviews Editor Lee Hutchinson, an AT&T customer with a family plan for him and his wife, did the math. He found that if he really wanted to switch to T-Mobile, the best course would be to eat the ETF himself.

The $75 pricing I have is no longer available to new Verizon customers. The closest current offering comes from Sprint, whose website shows an offer of unlimited talk, text, and data to new customers for $80 a month. A new smartphone plan from Verizon with unlimited talk, text, and 2GB of data costs $100 a month for new customers.

Why isn't this easier? Oh right, money.

The nagging question behind all this is: why can't you just bring your own phone to T-Mobile and get the deal they so enthusiastically announced yesterday? We asked T-Mobile PR and found that, while the company calls itself the "Un-carrier," it uses pretty much the same marketing speak as all of the non-Un-carriers.

When we asked why customers can't qualify for this deal if they bring their own phone, T-Mobile PR responded, "A big reason customers want out of contracts is to get a new phone. Customers can upgrade to one of the latest devices, get initial credit to help offset startup costs like down payment, insurance, device taxes, or accessories."

That doesn't answer the question, but T-Mobile got closer to the truth when it told us, "When customers trade in their device, it is really a win-win for both the customer and T-Mobile. A device trade-in provides consumers some initial credit to help with new device purchase or startup costs like down payment, device taxes, or accessories. For T-Mobile, we still see value in the devices consumers no longer want."

In all likelihood, T-Mobile is reselling those phones so it can make a profit despite paying off those early termination fees. There's nothing wrong with that—it's just good business sense. But it means T-Mobile's newest gambit won't attract the bring-your-own-device customers that typically love T-Mobile.

And while T-Mobile offers this deal without breaking its pledge to eliminate service contracts, it effectively saddles new customers with an early termination fee if they decide to leave T-Mobile before two years. "If you cancel wireless service, remaining balance on phone becomes due," T-Mobile will tell you when you buy a phone.

Overall, T-Mobile's offer is a good thing for a market where many consumers feel trapped with a carrier they don't like. While I wouldn't benefit, other people surely will. Just make sure to do the math before switching.

Promoted Comments

I think the most telling indication that that the cell phone service model is broken in the US is that everyone seems to have a completely unique calculation as to whether it would be cheaper to stay with a current carrier or move to another.

Wow. Verizon shill posting Ars article now? My respect for this site just dropped to almost zero. The 6Gb a month plan you have now costs $120 on Verizon, vs $70 a month for unlimited everything on T-Mobile. And you pick the absolute worst case to compare: the most expensive phone they sell on either carrier, and brand new to boot. How much does journalistic integrity sell for these days?

Wow. Verizon shill posting Ars article now? My respect for this site just dropped to almost zero. The 6Gb a month plan you have now costs $120 on Verizon, vs $70 a month for unlimited everything on T-Mobile. And you pick the absolute worst case to compare: the most expensive phone they sell on either carrier, and brand new to boot. How much does journalistic integrity sell for these days?

His plan is not necessarily the same as current plans. And I think the writer would know what his bill is...

"I pay Verizon $75 a month (plus $6 in taxes and fees, but I'm setting that aside to make the comparison with T-Mobile an apples-to-apples one). That gets me 250 texts, 450 minutes, and 6GB of data. "

In case you missed it....

"None of this answers the question of whether you would benefit from switching to T-Mobile. For one thing, my monthly bill may be lower than those of other Verizon customers because I'm holding on to an ancient plan from before the iPhone and Android even existed. My 6GB of data is better than normal too. I used to get just 2GB, but Verizon helpfully tripled my monthly allotment after iTunes Match malfunctioned and ate up a ton of my cellular data when it wasn't supposed to."

And the mentions that he would not benefit at all by switching, but others still might.

The big WIN for consumers has yet to come and that is the option to bring your own device AND more importantly tiered pricing for people who bring their own device. In the past there was NO incentive to bring your own device because carriers would charge you the same price for your monthly plan regardless. So there was "incentive" to use a subsidized device because you were forced to pay the subsidy anyways.

I think the most telling indication that that the cell phone service model is broken in the US is that everyone seems to have a completely unique calculation as to whether it would be cheaper to stay with a current carrier or move to another.

My contract was up, so I switched today. Got Mom a new iPhone, and only payed $46 (one time fee) more than my current bill, and then pay exactly the same per month ever after. Even got to keep my iPhone. After her phone is paid off, I pay even less.

So let's say I was in the market for a 2GB per month data, unlimited talk and unlimited texts. If I went with AT&T - a $9.99 GS3 (Certified Refurbished), 2 yr contract - AT&T recommends a Mobile Share plan for $95 per month.

I sign in to the AT&T contract and then take T-mobile's switch offer to sign up for everything unlimited $70 plan. I sell my $9.99 GS3 and get $99 in trade-in. I save $25 p.m. x 24 months = $600 in plan costs. I buy a Moto G for $199. That's 600+99-9.99-199 = $490 in savings. And I get unlimited national data plus free international data and cheaper international voice and texts compared to ATT. Sounds like a great deal to me. Or do better AT&T plans exist that I am somehow not seeing on their site or is there something else I am missing?

Barring that, I can actually see a lot of people benefiting from this offer - the only ones that won't are people with iPhones that have lost lot of their value in trade-in (hardly T-Mobile's fault for buying something that is crap value ) and the ones that need extensive coverage (I can sympathize with this group ).

I love Ars. I really do. But this is click-baiting drivel. So you trade your brand new phone in and then pay 800 dollars for the same thing? No shit it's a bad deal. The fact that its even close enough to make you do the math goes to show how much more impressive T-Mobile is than the competition.

This is a terrible article on a great site by a normally great writer. I can read "horsesh**" on countless other websites, Ars. I don't need you to editorialize, unless the article is marked as Op-Ed. Which this article definitely should be.

I think the most telling indication that that the cell phone service model is broken in the US is that everyone seems to have a completely unique calculation as to whether it would be cheaper to stay with a current carrier or move to another.

This is insightful and thought provoking. What would an alternative look like? One size fits all approaches don't fair well.

Easy solution. But a $299 Pantech from Verizon off contract and transfer your service to that phone, then trade that phone into T-mobile and buy the $75 refurb Windows Mobile phone and activate service on that Nokia. Then transfer the sim from the Nokia WinMo phone to your iPhone. This isn't a perfect solution but for an hour or two of work you will save more than a hundred dollars over the course of the contract. $21 *24 months = $504 - 299 - 75 = $130 saved plus free Nokia and a plan with more minutes, data, texting and international data.

We switched from AT&T 2 weeks ago and am still happy we did it. We'll be saving $50 a month getting as more minutes, texts, and MB than we were before and my wife still got a new iPhone 5S. After paying our ETF from AT&T we'll still save $500 this year and close to $800 next year.

Whats with all the armchair unresearched speculation and conspiracy theories? Tmobile reselling CDMA phones? To whom? Do they have some subsidiary that sells used phones on ebay (if so, please point me to them so i can check out the prices on a Note 3)? I could see a slight argument for AT&T as in some very specific markets Tmobile's 3G bans are the same as AT&Ts (but in general, an AT&T phone will only work with Edge connectivity..ie 2G)

Well staying with this journalistic standard, tomorrow Ars hires someone in a rent controlled apartment. Has them right a piece on how a new affordable housing complex won't save them money. But has them not mention rent control until way into the piece. And tops it with a click bait title using a bleeped expletive for effect.

If they are just going to chase page views they should feel bad, which is what this story seems to be.

I have two lines on verizon, setup in grandfathered family share of 750 min, 250 txt per line and unlimited data on both lines. This comes out to roughly $155/mo after taxes. We currently have two LTE devices making happy work of that plan with nationwide roaming. Great for that random cross country car trip streaming pandora over 4G the entire way last year.

The downside, is to maintain this plan, we're paying full retail for our devices to upgrade and there is nothing preventing Verizon from just kicking us in the future since we are out of contract. I've been a VZW customer for over 8 years now, but I'm ready to switch after the lifespan of our current devices expire. Problem is, I haven't seen any plans or networks in the US that beat the grandfathered plan/price and have good enough coverage. I'll just keep my eyes open along the way.

I don't care about unlimited talk/text anymore, since I may make one call a week if that. I want data and the lack of worry about if I'm using too much or not.

Similar situation—if I were to get a subsidized phone with Verizon right now it would cost me more over the next two years than paying full retail, because the cheapest plan now available is $20/mo more than I’m currently paying.

But I thought that unlimited data means no LTE with Verizon, however? That’s what was explained to me—that if I want LTE I’ll have to switch to a current plan, and if I want to keep my unlimited data it’ll only be 3G. (which, honestly, if I have to choose, I’ll take the unlimited data over limited data that I use up faster. Currently the limiting factor on my data use is bandwidth—it is reasonable to assume that I would spend the same amount of time using data if I had an LTE-capable device, so I’d use noticeably more data per month and be extra-screwed by the data caps.)

Would be fine if this was marked as an Op-Ed. Someone who skims this article will come away with the impression that those assholes at T-Mobile are false advertisers and are just as bad as Verizon and AT&T. The article is a an anecdote of the author's personal wireless predicament, that a vast majority of the people reading the article will not share. This is not reporting facts. This is not why anyone comes to Ars, and its disgraceful.

Granted, he clears some of this up in the last paragraph. But that is only if you manage to make it through the whole piece - which I only managed to do after reading comments that said I should do that.

I love Ars. I really do. But this is click-baiting drivel. So you trade your brand new phone in and then pay 800 dollars for the same thing? No shit it's a bad deal. The fact that its even close enough to make you do the math goes to show how much more impressive T-Mobile is than the competition.

This is a terrible article on a great site by a normally great writer. I can read "horsesh**" on countless other websites, Ars. I don't need you to editorialize, unless the article is marked as Op-Ed. Which this article definitely should be.

I'm gonna be honest: I'm extremely flattered that you think I am a "normally great writer." Thank you.

Separately, a lot of you are making hay over the fact that I am doing this calculation after having just purchased a new phone, and that the math would be different if I was upgrading from an old phone. Ok, I did the calculation based on the actual reality of my situation, but for another hypothetical let's see what would happen if we go back in time to September when I was still using a 3+ year-old iPhone 4. Would it be better to upgrade to the 5S with Verizon or T-Mobile?

It's a wash. With T-Mobile I could trade in my iPhone 4 for $50. I then pay $210 up front (for the 64GB iPhone 5S) and $2,040 over the next two years ($60 per month for service, another $25 per month for the device payment. So I've paid $2,250 minus the $50 credit. Total price over two years with T-Mobile: $2,200. (Or $2,000 if I got a 16GB phone, which I didn't want because I like having a lot of music stored locally.)

With Verizon, I paid $400 up-front for the phone and I continue paying $75 per month. That's $400 up-front plus $1,800 over the next two years for a total of $2,200 (or $2,000 if I got the 16GB phone).

It's the same price, but having seen a friend of mine struggle to get any data service at all with his T-Mobile iPhone while I zoom along with great service everywhere I go, I'm not going to switch unless I get a really huge discount.

Beyond that, I don't know how much clearer I could be in saying that this is just my circumstance and that many people will benefit and that Ars loves the fact that T-Mobile is injecting competition into the cellular market. As the article says, "Overall, T-Mobile's offer is a good thing for a market where many consumers feel trapped with a carrier they don't like. While I wouldn't benefit, other people surely will." The point of the article was to show that it's not a slam dunk for everyone, that the fact that T-Mobile will not activate service under this offer unless you give up your old phone is a potential pitfall that should be taken into account before switching. Nearly everything we've written about T-Mobile is positive, this is the first even slightly negative thing we've written about them in months and pitchforks come out!

I usually don't get too annoyed by comments, in fact I enjoy reading them and responding to them. But a lot of people in this thread strike me as being identical to the Apple fanboys who are hated by almost everyone because they just can't bear it when their favorite company has something even mildly negative written about them. Seriously, get over it.

"None of this answers the question of whether you would benefit from switching to T-Mobile. For one thing, my monthly bill may be lower than those of other Verizon customers because I'm holding on to an ancient plan from before the iPhone and Android even existed. My 6GB of data is better than normal too. I used to get just 2GB, but Verizon helpfully tripled my monthly allotment after iTunes Match malfunctioned and ate up a ton of my cellular data when it wasn't supposed to."

And the mentions that he would not benefit at all by switching, but others still might.

In fact, almost no one would benefit from staying with Verizon. Consider his case, but with a normal customer with a normal plan. Let's say he buys a brand new 64Gb iPhone 5S, which costs $399 with a 2 year contract with Verizon at $120 + fees a month, then switches to T-Mobile. He gets the ETF fee paid, and a $300 credit, and buys a new iPhone 5S 64Gb, $800-$300 = $500, so the new phone costs him effectively $500. Now, he picks the top of the line unlimited T-Mobil plan for $70 a month. Over 24 months, this saves him $50*24 = $1200. Minus the $500 phone cost, he still saves $700 over two years. A very significant savings.

In fact, this story is the equivalent of saying "a brand new iPhone 5S for $100 is a shitty deal because I bought one off a crackhead for $20 and a bottle of Dr. Pepper". That's just not going to happen to most people, and if they should grab that iPhone while they can. Saying things like "But like anything, it's not a slam dunk for everyone." is disingenuous, because for 99.999% of Verizon customers, it really is, unless you happen to be that one guy who has some crazy plan a rep added as an error that one time and you've managed to keep it for the last 20 years.

I bought my iPhone 5 64GB for AU$999 and went with Telstra prepaid for AU$30/m. That's free text messages and calls between 6pm and 6am each night ("special offer" that they've been renewing for ages) and $250 in credit (which is what text messages and calls would otherwise come out of) plus 500MB data.

If your data usage picks up you should consider switching to Boost Mobile. They are owned by Telstra now, and you get unlimited calls/SMS and 3GB data for AU$40/mth.

Its hard to compare here (japan) with you guys but it really sounds like your being boned.My current plan (note3) approx us 50 a month, (including phone) no calls or text but 7 gb of data( free calla to the wife though, and anyone with docomo) also everyone, including at work, uses the line app so we never make calls.

Oh they also paid off my Htc j butterfly when i changed over and gave me the option of (approx) us 400 in credit or off the phone cost.

Whats with all the armchair unresearched speculation and conspiracy theories? Tmobile reselling CDMA phones? To whom? Do they have some subsidiary that sells used phones on ebay (if so, please point me to them so i can check out the prices on a Note 3)? I could see a slight argument for AT&T as in some very specific markets Tmobile's 3G bans are the same as AT&Ts (but in general, an AT&T phone will only work with Edge connectivity..ie 2G)

Why all the hostility?

It has nothing to do with the kinds of phones or plans. This entire article is a whoop-dee-doo because Jon failed to meet the criteria for the move-over-nicely plan, and complained when they wouldn't honor it. Newsflash.

I love Ars. I really do. But this is click-baiting drivel. So you trade your brand new phone in and then pay 800 dollars for the same thing? No shit it's a bad deal. The fact that its even close enough to make you do the math goes to show how much more impressive T-Mobile is than the competition.

This is a terrible article on a great site by a normally great writer. I can read "horsesh**" on countless other websites, Ars. I don't need you to editorialize, unless the article is marked as Op-Ed. Which this article definitely should be.

I'm gonna be honest: I'm extremely flattered that you think I am a "normally great writer." Thank you.

Separately, a lot of you are making hay over the fact that I am doing this calculation after having just purchased a new phone, and that the math would be different if I was upgrading from an old phone. Ok, I did the calculation based on the actual reality of my situation, but for another hypothetical let's see what would happen if we go back in time to September when I was still using a 3+ year-old iPhone 4. Would it be better to upgrade to the 5S with Verizon or T-Mobile?

It's a wash. With T-Mobile I could trade in my iPhone 4 for $50. I then pay $210 up front (for the 64GB iPhone 5S) and $2,040 over the next two years ($60 per month for service, another $25 per month for the device payment. So I've paid $2,250 minus the $50 credit. Total price over two years with T-Mobile: $2,200. (Or $2,000 if I got a 16GB phone, which I didn't want because I like having a lot of music stored locally.)

With Verizon, I paid $400 up-front for the phone and I continue paying $75 per month. That's $400 up-front plus $1,800 over the next two years for a total of $2,200 (or $2,000 if I got the 16GB phone).

It's the same price, but having seen a friend of mine struggle to get any data service at all with his T-Mobile iPhone while I zoom along with great service everywhere I go, I'm not going to switch unless I get a really huge discount.

Beyond that, I don't know how much clearer I could be in saying that this is just my circumstance and that many people will benefit and that Ars loves the fact that T-Mobile is injecting competition into the cellular market. As the article says, "Overall, T-Mobile's offer is a good thing for a market where many consumers feel trapped with a carrier they don't like. While I wouldn't benefit, other people surely will." The point of the article was to show that it's not a slam dunk for everyone, that the fact that T-Mobile will not activate service under this offer unless you give up your old phone is a potential pitfall that should be taken into account before switching. Nearly everything we've written about T-Mobile is positive, this is the first even slightly negative thing we've written about them in months and pitchforks come out!

I usually don't get too annoyed by comments, in fact I enjoy reading them and responding to them. But a lot of people in this thread strike me as being identical to the Apple fanboys who are hated by almost everyone because they just can't bear it when their favorite company has something even mildly negative written about them. Seriously, get over it.

I think its fair to question the article. There are legitimate complaints to be had, all while ignoring those calling you a Verizon "shill." Calling you a shill has so little merit I don't want to dignify it with a response. I have a problem with the sensationalist title, as well as the fact that what is described is an exceptionally isolated example.

I don't want "good press" about T-Mobile, nor do I want "bad press" about T-Mobile. (Though, admittedly, I do want "bad press" about Verizon). I'm not a fanboy, and I don't think I'm being unreasonable. On the front page of Ars right now, I see articles about Nook's dropping sales numbers, Wikimedia employees getting fired, SteamOS getting extra GPU driver support, and various hardware reviews. This seems frivolous and sensationalist.

And I do now realize the title is a play off your article from two days ago, but I just got that. I guess there's no way to say, "I don't agree with the article existing" without sounding like a dick.

Why not sell your iphone on ebay and get $600 dollars for it. Then this is a better deal and you would make money? You have to buy a phone with T-mobile to get the deal. You don't have to trade it in, right.

It's the same price, but having seen a friend of mine struggle to get any data service at all with his T-Mobile iPhone while I zoom along with great service everywhere I go, I'm not going to switch unless I get a really huge discount.

Just out of curiosity, what sort of a "discount" would make you switch to service which is clearly inferior for you, and thus you'd essentially be paying for mediocre service?

I rely on my phone for business purpose, and in some of the remote places I travel there really is only one option here in Australia (Telstra). Sure I pay an ever so slight premium for service with Telstra (excluding comparisons with prepaid carriers), but my phone has very rarely let me down in the last 3 years since switching to them, and it holds onto signal long after those around me on other carriers have dropped to nothing.

"None of this answers the question of whether you would benefit from switching to T-Mobile. For one thing, my monthly bill may be lower than those of other Verizon customers because I'm holding on to an ancient plan from before the iPhone and Android even existed. My 6GB of data is better than normal too. I used to get just 2GB, but Verizon helpfully tripled my monthly allotment after iTunes Match malfunctioned and ate up a ton of my cellular data when it wasn't supposed to."

And the mentions that he would not benefit at all by switching, but others still might.

In fact, almost no one would benefit from staying with Verizon. Consider his case, but with a normal customer with a normal plan. Let's say he buys a brand new 64Gb iPhone 5S, which costs $399 with a 2 year contract with Verizon at $120 + fees a month, then switches to T-Mobile. He gets the ETF fee paid, and a $300 credit, and buys a new iPhone 5S 64Gb, $800-$300 = $500, so the new phone costs him effectively $500. Now, he picks the top of the line unlimited T-Mobil plan for $70 a month. Over 24 months, this saves him $50*24 = $1200. Minus the $500 phone cost, he still saves $700 over two years. A very significant savings.

In fact, this story is the equivalent of saying "a brand new iPhone 5S for $100 is a shitty deal because I bought one off a crackhead for $20 and a bottle of Dr. Pepper". That's just not going to happen to most people, and if they should grab that iPhone while they can. Saying things like "But like anything, it's not a slam dunk for everyone." is disingenuous, because for 99.999% of Verizon customers, it really is, unless you happen to be that one guy who has some crazy plan a rep added as an error that one time and you've managed to keep it for the last 20 years.

You left this part out again.

""I pay Verizon $75 a month (plus $6 in taxes and fees, but I'm setting that aside to make the comparison with T-Mobile an apples-to-apples one). That gets me 250 texts, 450 minutes, and 6GB of data. "

Honestly, Jon, I know you're no shill - but in this case, the only reason your PRICING situation favors Verizon is that you'd be losing a (truly excellent) grandfathered data plan. It would have made a more honest article if you'd pointed that out up front... with that pushed into the last paragraph, not to mention the aggressive clickbait headline, this does actually look pretty bad.

For most of us, even on a grandfathered plan (please note that Verizon forcibly converted many of its grandfathered plans to their new Share Everything structure a while ago - not sure how you avoided it, but well done), we're paying $40 per month per smartphone on a Verizon account, plus a minimum of $60 for 2 GB of data across ALL phones on the plan. That's $100 per month - whether you're within the 2 years of your subsidy, or not.. The (slightly better) closest post-paid plan on T-Mobile costs $85 a month with a financed phone, falling to $60 per month after two years - so you save $15 per month to start with, and then it gets better.

You're only honestly at parity if you have 2 smartphones on the line. With 2 GB each (4 total) on Verizon, you pay $150 per month. The closest match you can assemble on T-Mobile comes to $150 if you finance both devices - though it falls to $100 if you buy them up front. (By the way, with more lines? The equation starts to favor T-Mobile again.)

I admit, there is the question of coverage. Whether the savings are worth it depends on the individual - but unless you've preserved one heck of a grandfathered plan? There ARE savings! And thus, if their coverage works for you, reasons to consider them taking them up on their offer to pay the ETFs.

It's amazing that Ars published an article about how Uncarrier 4.0 doesn't benefit someone that bought an $850 phone (64gb iPhone), when they only offer up to a $650 refund. Why are you so special that this deal should greatly benefit you in some way?

Yes a few people aren't in a position to benefit from this, but this is an incredible offer, and makes sense for a LOT of people. Yes there are some strings, and for most people it won't be a big deal. T-Mobile is a business, they aren't going to give you things for free, but they are attempting to operate under a more consumer friendly model where they make a much slimmer profit margin than the extorters AT&T and Verizon do.

I have a plan with T-mobile that gives me unlimited data (up to 5GB @4G speeds), unlimited texting, and 100 minutes of talk time, all for $30/mo. I almost never talk on the phone, so this plan is perfect for me.

Here I am, on verizon's reseller account... I couldn't be more lucky really... 50 bucks a month... 1 year contract... 100 dollars off online contract prices... upgrade every 10 months... oh and did I mention unlim talk/text and 10 gigs of data I can tether?

To be honest with my customers, when I actually worked with them.... I always did quite a bit of math to compare carrier... I've always found a pattern... There is never a carrier that is the cheapest throughout the entire time. It's like there is a SEA of customers that are willing to switch ALL the time. It's like the carriers have an agreement to shuffle these customers around. Right now its Tmobile's turn... with their clever marketing and "honest" business scheme. In my understanding they are shoving the same stuff down your throat but because they are more open about what they are shoving down your throat, you seem to be more willing to accept it, you almost start to like it, when in reality... it really hasn't changed.

I'm sure someone already elaborated on this in more detail, but in brief, you lose money over the luxury of buying the most overpriced phone on the market -- twice! Had you chosen another model before, at least one where you don't overpay for storage 10 times, or had you chosen another one during the switch, you could be ahead.

It has been said time and again that carrier contracts conceal the exorbitant price of the iPhone and make it look like a deal by subsidizing it more than they subsidize comparable phones of other brands. Essentially those with Android/Windows/BB pay part of the iPhone tab.

Now, what happens with a more open market is that you lose the extra subsidy from your Android carrying fellows, so it looks like you're getting the thick end of the stick.

May I add that when enough people switch because THEY will be getting a better deal, there'll be nothing left for Verizon but to raise the iPhone price.

I always thought we had it bad in Canada, but seeing how screwed up some of you got it, I'm pretty happy where I am.

Although I do hate our three party system (Rogers, Bell and Telus) it seems to be working a lot better than yours. The one downside is all the cheaper operators (Fido and Virgin primarily) are owned by the three major operators. Rogers owns Fido and the disparity in price is annoying as hell.

For the exact same plan on Fido and Rogers it costs $20 more on Rogers even though Rogers owns Fido.

While I understand that loads of people love their iPhones, it's not exactly a frugal choice. Lame as the mandatory purchase requirement may be, it's hardly a good representation of the offer if you are intentionally choosing such an expensive phone.